Abbey Road is the Jewel in The Beatles Crown ?Even though it's not my favourite Beatles album , it's pretty much the "Blueprint" for the modern Pop/Rock album ?(thumbsup)

First time post here. Personally I think that albums like Revolver and Rubber Soul (in particular the US version) have been far more influential than Abbey Road. I don't see very many albums with the kind of structure that Abbey Road has (though I'm sure that they exist). To me, the mini-opera seems to be a rather crucial part of the record, and I don't see that as being a blueprint for the modern pop/rock album. In terms of the song lengths (which someone mentioned here), I would agree that the length of the tracks are somewhat more in line with contemporary length, but I am not so sure I am convinced that the current average running time of pop songs are a consequence of Abbey Road. After all, only four of the seventeen songs go over 3 and a half minutes. I think too that the progression of the song length was more of a growing trend that the Beatles were following rather than establishing. After all, the Rolling Stones had eclipsed the ten minute mark as far back as 1966. Blues and folk music never restricted themselves much to the 3 minute pop song; and I think that the rising popularity of Dylan throughout the sixties gave pop acts like the Beatles more freedom to broaden their scope.

This is not meant to be judgemental, incidentally. I think that Abbey Road is a great album but I am not sure that I find it to be as crucial or significant a Beatles album as Revolver or Rubber Soul (or, in my opinion, The White Album and Sgt. Pepper). However it may be their most iconic album cover, which is amusing given the amount of work that went into Pepper.

I'm not sure if Abbey Road is their crown jewel, but it is an amazing album and in my top 3. I just wonder if this album would be as highly regarded if it wasn't recorded under the circumstances it was. It is amazing that this album come out as great as it did with all that was going on at the time.

Regardless of whether or not the songs were better on Sgt. Pepper, Sgt. Pepper has to be the crown jewel for its innovation and how it changed everything in popular music at the time.

Logged

&quot;And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love... you make&quot;.<br />

I'm not sure if Abbey Road is their crown jewel, but it is an amazing album and in my top 3. I just wonder if this album would be as highly regarded if it wasn't recorded under the circumstances it was. It is amazing that this album come out as great as it did with all that was going on at the time.

Regardless of whether or not the songs were better on Sgt. Pepper, Sgt. Pepper has to be the crown jewel for its innovation and how it changed everything in popular music at the time.

i 100% agree here. some thing about hearing sgt. peppers...i don't know how to describe it. but it's a very impressive album.

I think the original post is a fair assessment of Abbey Road. Revolver and Rubber Soul are probably my favourites, but I will agree that the production and cohesion of Abbey Road more than make up for some of its weaker songs. It's definitely a wonder of an album.

As said before, a crown can have more than one jewel. Plus, different albums may be crowned for different reasons. Many people, I included, feel that Revolver is the best. If we are crowning the best selling album, that goes to The Beatles (AKA White Album). Certainly, Sgt Pepper's, Abbey Rd and Rubber Soul deserved to be crowned as well since they are among the best recordings ever? How about AHDN since it was the first album of all originals?

What I think shines (or glitters) about Abbey Road is that they knew they were breaking up, and there was great effort put into making it a great album. They wanted to go out with something they could be proud of. This turned out to be mostly a Paul album. John had lost interest to some degree and was ready to move on with his projects with Yoko.

I can just imagine the conversation:

Paul: "Hey guys, we all have our own projects, let's make one and go out with style."

John: (unenthusiastically) "Okay, I will come up with some good songs."

George: "Just let me have some songs. I have a back log of songs, I will come up with some good ones."

Ringo: "If that's what you guys want to do, I am in."

Paul: (to George Martin) "Will you produce it for us?"

George Martin: "If you let me, I will."

Logged

And now you've changed your mind, I see no reason to change mine --Lennon/McCartney

I'd rank Abbey Road as about the 4th best Beatles album (after The White Album, Sgt. Pepper, & Revolver) but that being said, I can definitely see the argument for it being their best album. And I do think it's definitely their most "modern" sounding recording (the sound of Abbey Road is quite different than their previous albums... much cleaner & "brighter" but not quite as "warm")

Im not saying its their best but maybe you had to be around at the time (I was 15) Pepper was a massive event in the world of music, for the first time we had to wait what seemed like and age for a new Beatle album and it didnt let down, even the cover was gobsmacking, me and the friends I had then had heard nothing like it.

Abbey Road is the Jewel in The Beatles Crown ?Even though it's not my favourite Beatles album , it's pretty much the "Blueprint" for the modern Pop/Rock album ?(thumbsup)

Technically Abbey Road is their best album vocally and instrumentally. They sound almost like a classical band on tracks like "Because and parts of the medley. I think they were hitting on something grand with “I Want You (She’s So Heavy) and the Abbey Road Medley both influence on heavy metal and progressive rock respectively. But unfortunately broke up.

To me a huge influence on much of modern rock/pop is Revolver "Rain/Paperback Writer era why? You had Pet Sounds still seeped in Phil Spector Wall Of Sound, Frank Zappa very much a parody of Varesse put into rock music and the unreleased music of the Velvet Underground. Revolver for one it doesn't sound like anything before it and compare it to say Bob Dylan Blonde on Blonde which most of the album is still restricted to established pop styles. Not really on Revolver you have classical Indian "Love You To", avant/Indian "Tomorrow Never Knows" and what is "Eleanor Rigby"? That helped expand on what you can put on the rock canvas.

It's really on "Rain", "Paper Back Writer" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" is where the production and ideas shine through. You have boosted bass and drums right up front, loops, and change of speeds, processed vocals, and automatic double tracking on "Tomorrow Never Knows”. The ideas on that one record is common to what you hear today.

“Paperback Writer” has again that boosted bass sound and some nasty guitar distortion. Then “Rain” the track is vari-speeded to create a dense rock sound a trick that Les Paul did but the Beatles take it to another level on “Rain”. Again the bass and drums are the vital part of the sound right up front but they add something to it by using a backward vocal fade-out to make it trippy. What I am saying is the Beatles were one of the first rock groups to combine close-miking on the drum and a boosted bass sound on the same records. That helped influenced much of what you hear in pop and rock music today.

You can make a case every Beatles album was a progression and it broke some ground.